Attorneys are expected to give closing arguments Thursday in the murder case against an anti-illegal immigrant group leader who is accused of gunning down a 9-year-old girl and her father in what prosecutors say was an attempt to steal drug money to fund border operations.

The U.S. Justice Department denied a claim made to lawmakers that two guns sold in purchases sanctioned by federal firearms agents were later used in a shootout that left a Border Patrol agent dead near the Arizona-Mexico border.

The state Department of Education in May 2010 released an audit, charging that 105 students, some of whom are U.S. citizens, are attending schools in Ajo but are actually living across the border in Mexico and not entitled to a free education in Arizona schools. The state fined the Ajo Unified $1.2 million, the amount the state claims was spent to educate those students.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has proven that tough immigration policies make it easy to raise cash for political campaigns, and Gov. Jan Brewer has shown that the same rule applies to raising money for legal defense of the state’s new immigration law.

Hector Ortega stumbled across the body of a fellow migrant as he walked across Arizona's harsh desert in the searing summer heat. He tried not to look too closely. With nothing to be done for the deceased, Ortega and the others trudged on, guided by a smuggler across the U.S. border, determined to complete their illegal odyssey even as they endured record-high temperatures and fever-pitch resentment.

National Guard troops will head to the U.S.-Mexico border Aug. 1 for a yearlong deployment to keep a lookout for illegal border crossers and smugglers and help in criminal investigations, federal officials said Monday.